BACK in March I wrote a letter to this newspaper which was broadly in support of the astonishing plan by Chancellor George Osborne, a Conservative, to devolve billions of pounds of Government finances to 10 councils in Greater Manchester, most of them Labour-controlled.

I welcomed a “new political reality” that included “Devo-Bolt” as part of “Devo-Manc” and suggested that all Boltonians – many of us proud Lancastrians – would have to get used to it.

As I have written at various times over the past few years, I believe that Bolton has more to gain from looking towards Manchester rather than Darwen, Blackburn or Preston.

Such a view has brought me criticism from various sources and I expected that my March letter would stimulate an intelligent debate and, no doubt, some abuse. To my surprise, that did not happen. There was no response.

Several months later, the bandwagon has rolled on and to my great delight the Bolton News and other important newspapers in the Greater Manchester “city region” have now joined together to put pressure on the Chancellor to demand a “fair deal” for devolution.

They believe devolution is the right plan for this important northern area, but they want to make sure there is enough money to do the job.

Newspapers covering all ten council areas have now committed themselves to shining a light on the decisions of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and to monitoring the way individual towns such as Bolton, Bury and Wigan fight their corner against suspicions that all this will only benefit Manchester.

Sadly, a Bolton News leader writer was probably right to suggest that Bolton people view devolution developments with “confusion and apathy at best and cynicism at worst”.

Personally, I do not like the idea of a Greater Manchester Mayor, but I will have to get used to it. Politics matter.

This newspaper believes, correctly in my opinion, that devolution delivered properly and transparently is right for the people of Greater Manchester and Bolton. Could that intelligent debate start now? Contributions from local politicians would be appreciated.

Alan Calvert

Harwood